Tuesday, January 26, 2016

My kids had a writing assignment. Write about what you want to be when you grow up. I did let them trace pictures from various things we have around the house for their illustrations. Remember, they are in Kindergarten (5 years old).

Translation: "I want to be a Paleontologist. I will study fossils. I will study shark teeth. I love teeth."

To be honest, this was the first I had heard she was interested in fossils, sharks, or teeth.

Translation: "I want to be an Entomologist. I will study insects. I love firefly. The funniest insect is wolf spider."

This didn't surprise me. His love of insects is not new and has continued. He still constantly surprises me with his knowledge. His current favorite insect is the spittlebug.

Monday, January 25, 2016

I have many friends with philosophies like mine when it comes to what their kids wear. We have 2 rules about clothing - 1. It must be clean. 2. You must be covered. Other than that, we don't say anything. Most of the other families I know who follow this philosophy have kids dressing creatively: bright colors, patterns that don't match, and style with personality. My kids can't even do weird normally.

She is a princess and he is a knight ninja to protect her.

Yes, a full pinstripe suit and sunglasses to pay piano and sing.

Another day, but he's still in his favorite suit. This time he added Spiderman slippers, a workman's vest, and pencils. When dressing themselves, other kids go for crazy, mine look like they are headed for a formal event. The upside to all of this is his suits are all washable and we certainly got our money out of them!

Friday, January 22, 2016

We are working on multiplication around here so I found this post relevant. I have one child who can memorize the times tables after just saying them out loud a few times. The other child needs something more hands on. I'm considering the patterned multiplication circles. What have you found that works?

Are you an educator or parent with a frustrated child who is attempting to memorize the multiplication tables? Read on.

Hundreds of kids have learned their times tables in an hour using a very fun & easy to understand animated video. The Times Tales DVD is a two-part video series that uses stories to teach multiplication to kids. The videos use cute, simple stories that provide students with a "memory peg," allowing them to quickly recall otherwise abstract multiplication facts. As students progress through the video, they'll learn multiplication without even knowing it! It's that easy!

About the Times Tales DVD - What is included?

https://youtu.be/uTHAO6S65Xc

Animated video comes on a DVD

CD includes printable worksheets and flashcards

What Educents customers are saying about Times Tales:

"Fun and effective! Did in 2 weeks what other curriculum didn't do in a year!"

"My kids did NOT want to like this when I first opened it up, but they ended up liking it a LOT! They kept trying to "figure it out" so it took a while for my 2nd and 4th grader to just relax and watch the stories. We followed the recommended pace, and in 2 weeks this DVD solidified what other methods could not do for them in a year! Even my 3 yr old shouts out the answers to some of the quiz questions! Of course she doesn't understand what she's learning yet, but when her time comes, learning her multiplication facts will be painless and easy :) Definitely recommend this program to anyone who has stressed over drilling boring multiplication facts into their kids! You WILL Love it! :)" -ML

"I can’t even imagine how many less papers my 5th grade teacher would have had to grade if we had this in my elementary school! We did multiplication drills every single day during our 2nd semester! Using this DVD really beats that." - Celena J.

Times Tales Animated DVD & Printable Worksheets

Times Tales teaches kids the upper times tables without rote memorization. Students can simply follow along with the entertaining story. As they progress, they'll be guided into associating the stories they've learned with real math. You can always find the Times Tales DVD at a discount on Educents.com!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

The first time your kids hit a milestone it is exciting. This was one I didn't see coming though. We often go for long bike rides - 4-5 miles. The kids are riding "normal" bikes, no training wheels. We stop in the middle so the kids can rest on the playground. They have been swinging on the first monkey bar for awhile. This was the day they both realized they could go across them.

Sweet Son was the first to make it. You can see Wonderful Husband there to help him in case he gets into trouble.

This is what the rest of the break looked like. They just kept taking turns over and over going across. Once their arms were tired, they wanted to finish the bike ride. All this exercise and they still weren't tired at bed time!

Monday, January 18, 2016

We love visiting our local Science museum. This trip we ended up spending all of our time building with one thing or another.

I built this with a KEVA Plank Set. After posing for the picture, Sweet Daughter and another girl who were there tried seeing how many planks they could take off the bottom before it fell over. They managed to remove 9 without it collapsing. The 10th did it in and it made a loud sound. I will say I continue to be impressed with these blocks. We have a set at home and play with them regularly.

Sweet Son is in there somewhere. While Sweet Daughter and I were building and using our fine motor skills, Sweet Son went straight for the gross motor skills. Apparently this is a pirate ship and he hides inside so he knows if it is a friend or a foe approaching!

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Once the paper mache balloons had dried (see yesterday's post), it was time to paint. We were making globes so they started by needing to paint the entire thing blue. They quickly discovered it's difficult to paint all the way around and on top and bottom without getting paint all over their hands and clothes. That's why we use washable paint.

Starting the project

Finished painting

The next day, they colored and cut out each continent. Then they were challenged to glue them onto their globe with correct relative positioning. While they both struggled with that, they were able to correctly identify their mistakes and explain how they could do it better next time. They also know their globes much better than just looking at the ones we have at home.

Monday, January 11, 2016

It's messy project time for our homeschool! This was actually the first time I had ever tried paper mache, so it was the kids' first time as well. It was messy and awesome. If you live somewhere you can't be outside in the sunlight in January, I'm sorry. It really does help keep us sane.

The kids had ripped up the paper strips while I made the "glue" mixture inside. Then we headed outside to make the mess.

Telling them to cover their entire balloons was a great instruction. They both figured out different ways of doing it and they both turned out well. This did take a lot longer than I had expected, but they smiled and laughed the entire time, so it was worth it.

She is so proud! She is also covered in goop.

His hands are much cleaner, but his pants and shirt suffered with this project, haha.

Both kids posing with their paper mache balloons. Come back tomorrow for the continuation of this project. It gets better!

Friday, January 8, 2016

It is no surprise that group photo day at school is followed shortly thereafter by group photos around our house. Here are some of my favorites from Sweet Daughter's camera. She is a natural organizer.

Babies, a bear, and a snowman for fun

Everyone posed nicely for the photo.

(This was on Sweet Daughter's camera, though clearly it wasn't taken by her.)